Battle of Civitate

The Battle of Civitate was fought on 18 June 1053 between the Norman army of Count Humphrey of Apulia and Calabria an a Papal-Swabian-Lombard army in Apulia, southern Italy. The decisive Norman victory at Civitate led to the consolidation of Norman rule in southern Italy, and, in 1059, the Papal States forged an alliance with the Normans and authorized them to conquer the rest of southern Italy from the Byzantines and Arabs.

Background
By 1047, the avaricious Norman mercenaries of the House of Hauteville had taken advantage of their alliance with the Lombards against the Byzantine Greeks by seizing sizable chunks of Apulia and Calabria. The Normans created the County of Melfi with the recognition of Count Guaimar IV of Salerno and the Holy Roman Emperor, fellow opponents of the Byzantine Greeks.

However, the Franco-Norse elite of southern Italy ruled the Lombards with an iron fist, leading to rebellions in Melfi and Cosenza. Anti-Norman resentment boiled over when, in 1051, Duke Rudolf of Benevento offered temporal control of his duchy to Pope Leo IX in exchange for protection against the Normans. The Normans promptly invaded and conquered Benevento, insulting the Papal States. In 1053, Pope Leo personally led 700 German Swabian soldiers south from Rome to invade Apulia, and thousands flocked to his cause, including the Duke of Gaeta, the Prince of Benevento, and Lombard commoners from several principalities. The Byzantines under Catepan Argyrus marched on Melfi at the same time, threatening the Norman lands from two sides.

Battle
The 6,000-strong Papal army was a large army by that time's standards, and the Norman ruler Humphrey of Hauteville mustered up all loyal levies in his Apulian realm, while he was joined by Robert Guiscard's Calabrian contingent and Richard Drengot's Aversan soldiers; the Normans came to have 3,000 cavalry and 500 infantry. The Normans took the initiative to intercept the Papal force before it could join the Byzantines, and, on 17 June 1053, the two sides met at Civitate. Drengot's heavy cavalry were deployed to the right, Guiscard commanded infantry and cavalry on the left, and Humphrey led the dismounted knights and archers in the center.

On the Papal side, a long line of Swabian infantry held the center and right, while the left was held by a disorganized mob of Italian and Lombard levies. The Pope wished to wait for the arrival of the Byzantines, and, while the Pope waited, devoutly Catholic knights not wishing to fight against their Supreme Pontiff attempted to organize a truce with the Pope. However, the Normans were only met with jeers by Leo's German soldiers, who demanded that they return to Normandy. Diplomacy continued through the night, but, as the Byzantine army grew closer and the Normans ran short of provisions, the Normans were forced to launch their attack on 18 June. Richard Drengot's cavalry charged the Papal left and slaughtered the inexperienced Papal militia, while the Swabians and Humphrey's archers exchanged archer fire. The German infantry then marched uphill to engage the Norman knights in a fierce melee, and the Swabians fought with two-handed swords and held off the Normans for a time. Guiscard kept his men in reserve before rallying his command and charging the Swabian right, coming to his brother Humphrey's aid. The battle continued to be a stalemate until Richard's right flank detangled themselves from the Italian militia and joined the fight in the center. The Swabians fought to the last man, and the Normans were victorious.

Aftermath
The Normans then rode up to the walls of Civitate, and Pope Leo was thrown out of the town by the townspeople and imprisoned by the Normans at Benevento for nine months. The Byzantines then withdrew back home, demoralized by the defeat at Civitate. Leo IX was forced to recognize the Norman territory in Italy and to promise to never again take up arms against the Normans, and the 1059 Treaty of Melfi recognized Apulia and Calabria as a legal polity with Guiscard as its Duke.